Council vote for rezoning

THE Devonport City Council has voted in favour of rezoning the area around the old carpet factory at East Devonport.

It clears the way for a potential development application to be received for the conversion of the carpet factory to potato processing.

The property owner said a new potato factory could create 100 jobs within five years.

On Monday night the council voted in favour of rezoning the precinct bounded by North Caroline Street, Brooke Street, Tarleton Street and The Esplanade at East Devonport, from general residential to light industrial.

A consortium of businesses behind the the rezoning application include Anchor Farms' Terrence Rattray, owner of the carpet factory site.

Mr Rattray told The Advocate in November that he aimed to find and supply niche markets with "boutique" potato varieties, which was a growth area of the market.

Mr Rattray said his vegetable business, based at Pyengana since 1995 has outgrown premises which are too far from port for his plans.

Anchor Organic, a part of Anchor Farms, sends washed and brushed potatoes to Western Australia and supplies the Woolworths Macro brand, as well as wholesale markets in Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and South Korea.

Mr Rattray said the old carpet factory's proximity to Devonport port and access to local farms made it a good location.

The carpet factory site reverted to residential zoning after its existing use rights expired after two years of inactivity. The carpet factory closed three years ago.

Mr Rattray told The Advocate last year the other business owners operating under existing use rights in a residential zone, support rezoning the area so they can expand their businesses.

However, some East Devonport residents are opposed to the change and raised concerns with the council last year. The residents were consulted in 2006 before it became residential zoning as a result of a strategic and urban design review of the East Devonport area under the Devonport Eastern Shore Project Urban Design Framework.

The business owners argued that many of the factors on which it was zoned residential in 2006 have not occurred and there has been no demand for residential development on the land.

Alderman Grant Goodwin said rezoning to light industrial was a "commonsense approach in order to get something happening at East Devonport to create employment".

"If we don't pass this application that (carpet factory) building will sit there into perpetuity and become a derelict building instead of a potato business creating sustainable employment," Alderman Goodwin said.

But Alderman Graham Kent said the decision to rezone to residential in 2006 was done to oversee a strategic 20-year plan for East Devonport.

Alderman Kent said the only growth in the area for 40 years has been residential.

"I refute the argument there is no demand for residential development in Devonport," he said.

Aldermen Kent, Rockliff and Mayor Steve Martin voted against the rezoning which was passed.

THE Devonport City Council has voted in favour of rezoning the area around the old carpet factory at East Devonport.